Deal On! Groupon Files to Go Public: All of the Interesting Numbers

We won’t hold our breath for a 50% off deal, but if you haven’t burned all of your investment dollars in RenRen or the (in our opinion) better positioned LinkedIn or Yandex you’ll be happy to know that Groupon will officially be going public. Until GRPN shares officially start trading, the company’s value will remain fluid, but suffice it to say the market cap is likely going to be much more than the $6 billion Google offer that Groupon turned down. The last widely quoted estimate placed Groupon’s value at $25 billion, but we’ve seen with LinkedIn that pent up interest can quickly balloon to figures many times more pre-market estimates.

That being said, we learned a bit from Groupon’s S-1 form: here are a few of the most interesting financials and figures.

$750 Million the amount Groupon expects to raise from its IPO

$713 MillionGroupon’s 2010 gross revenue

$645 Million Groupon’s gross revenue for Q1 2011 alone

60% Groupon’s Average “Cost of Revenue” in 2010- that includes things like paying merchants. That’s down from 63% in 2009 and a much more generous 95% in 2008 when Groupon first started.

$263 Million the amount Groupon spent on marketing in 2010 that’s up from a measly $4.5 million in 2009. Marketing spending in the first quarter of 2011 is already $208 million, so prepare for some eye-popping numbers next year.

$456 Million Groupon’s 2010 Net Loss. That’s right, even with $713 million in top line revenue, Groupon actually lost money. Get comfortable with it: despite critics predicting that the company’s model won’t last, CEO Andrew Mason is in for the long haul, even if that means losing money.

“We spend a lot of money acquiring new subscribers because we can measure the return and believe in the long-term value of the marketplace we’re creating. In the past, we’ve made investments in growth that turned a healthy forecasted quarterly profit into a sizable loss. When we see opportunities to invest in long-term growth, expect that we will pursue them regardless of certain short-term consequences,” he says in the filing.

43 the number of countries where Groupon offers deals

83 million the number of Groupon subscribers at the end of March 2011. That’s a pretty impressive email list.

15.8 million or 19% – the number who actually bought a Groupon. It may not sound like a lot, but 19% is actually pretty great as far as conversion rates go.

28 million the number of Groupons sold. That’s about 1.8 Groupons per customer, meaning that most customers try Groupon at least twice, and that’s only for the first 3 months of this year.

Former president Rob Solomon (who maintained 6.8% of the company, estimated to be worth $1.7 billion)

Brad Keywell (an early minority investor and co-founder, his 6.9% stake is estimated at $1.7 billion)

CEO Andrew Mason (owns 7.7%, worth an estimated $1.9 billion)

The Samwer brothers (who sold a German clone to Groupon, and ended up with 10.3% of the company, estimated to be worth $2.6 billion)

New Enterprise Associates (an early investor that owns 14.7%, valued at $3.7 billion)

Eric Lefkosky (the co-founder who provided most of the initial capital owns 21.6% of the company, valued at $5.4 billion) {BusinessInsider}

If you’re feeling a bit bad for Andrew Mason: don’t. In addition to the fact that he’ll still end up worth more than $2 billion, he and Lefkosky both own 41.7% of the voting shares in the company, meaning he still has a big say in the direction of the company.

Still we have to say that Rob Solomon, who didn’t even stay on as President for a full year, made one of the better deals. The Samwers are a very close second. Cumulatively, they came out with more, but individually (there are 3 brothers) their stakes are worth a little less than a billion each.